Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor waits for the throw from catcher Yan Gomes to tag out New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge on a steal attempt in the eighth inning.(John Kuntz, cleveland.com)

"I knew I had him," Lindor said. "[Gomes' throw] was right on the money. Thank God Judge is 6-foot-8 so I didn't have to go that low."

Gomes' throw, which came on a 3-2 slider from Tribe reliever Neil Ramirez to Yankees No. 3 hitter Aaron Hicks, arrived at precisely the perfect moment, and in the ideal location for Lindor to tag Judge.

The Indians challenged second base umpire Jerry Meals' initial call, which was overturned in a 28-second review, giving Cleveland the final out of the inning.

Francona said the strikeout-throw out double play could not have come at a better time.

"Especially when you look and see who's coming up," Francona said. "It looked like Stanton was swinging three bats on deck."

Judge told the Associated Press afterward that stealing the base would have been huge for New York, and that sometimes you have to gamble in order to win.

"You gotta take those gambles," Judge said. "I took a risk and I was out."

The play evoked memories of Gomes' pickoff throw in Game 2 of the American League Division Series against New York last season. With the score tied at 8 in the 11th inning, Gomes fired a laser to Lindor at second that caught Yankees infielder Ronald Torreyes straying too far away from second base after a leadoff double.

Lindor caught the throw from Gomes and dropped another perfect tag on Torreyes before he could dive back to the bag.

Of course, the play starts with a pitch. And Ramirez made his on the play that prevented a huge momentum shift at a critical point in the game.

"To have Yan, on a slider, be able to pop it down there when he did at that moment, it was big," Ramirez said. "Yan is one of the best in the game at getting the ball down there quick. It couldn't have been a more perfect throw. The tag, he got him right before he got in there."

Gomes overcame Ramirez's slower-than-average delivery to make the play.

"Admittedly, I'm not super quick to the plate," he said. "I think [the Yankees] thought they might be able to steal a bag right there. Obviously, Yan made them pay."